Generic Codes and Conventions:
Psychological Thriller is the sub-genre of 'Thriller' that concentrates on the unstable minds both physically and emotionally of mainly one character who usually is a serial killer. It involves other genres like 'Mystery' and 'Crime-Drama' and can also be a 'Psychological Horror' depending on the storyline. Our group have chosen the movie 'Seven' which demonstrates the generic codes and conventions of a typical psychological thriller as it involves a serial killer who is emotionally and physically unstable and shows us his story.
Conventions of a Psychological Thriller like the movie 'Seven' will include the following camera techniques:
>Close-ups and variations of close-ups in order to show emotion like anger or tension to make audience feel uncomfortable.
>Hand-held shots so the camera is shaking- this can represent the main character's unstability especially if they are a antagonist.
>Low-angle shots to make the anatgonist seem threatning and dangerous, this can make the audience feel small.
The follwing editing techniques may also be used in psychological thrillers;
>Quick cuts/short takes to make a scene quick, fast paced and tensed in order to create panic and usually makes an audience confused as it could show a lot of moments happening quickly one after the other, in the opening sequence of Seven many short takes are used as we do not see one object/prop for more than 5 seconds.
>Jump cuts to make the antagonist seem disorientated and emotionally/mentally unstable.
>Split-screen shows two or more events occuring at the same time makes the audience feel and see there is more than one action taking place at the same time.
>The font in Seven used for the opening credits is quite sharp and creepy-looking, this symbolizes the antagonist, his personality and whole character, telling the audience how deranged he is.
>Low key lighting could be used to create a dark sinister atmosphere and represent the surroundings of the antagonist, it creates shadows which we associate with fear and danger.
>Black and white/greyscale creates a dimly lit area signifying the enviroment of he antagonist and makes audience feel uncomfortable. It also represents the anatgonist's darkness as we associate dark colours such as black/grey with fear, depression, dullness, death and other negative feelings.
The following sounds maybe used in a psychological thriller:
>Contrapuntal sound which is sound/music which seems strange in comparison to the scene we are watching, i.e a sunny, bright day might be on screen but we can hear tense, scary music. This can repesent the antagonist looking normal but really they are criminal masterminds- we have decided to use this type of music/sound to represent the antagonist's two sides: his 'normal' state and dark, deranged, psychotic state. We will use two types of music, classical and sharp, tense music/sound to symbolize the two sides of our character (antagonist).
>Pitch- in a psychological thriller, this can be either low or high- both will set the atmosphere quite high tensed. For a high pitched sound, an ear screeching sound maybe used to make the audience uncomfortable as it will make them want to cover their ears as it can sound quite horrible.
>Rhythm- in a psychological thriller, the music/sound would start slow then as it progresses it will become more fast paced to build tension and create a panic-like atmosphere. It makes a scene more interesting and keeps the audience wanting more. We have decided we will use this technique in our opening sequence to build that tension and mystery for the audience leaving them thinking.
As our genre is a psychological thriller which include serial killers - a similiar good example of this genre of film is the movie Seven. We have decided to do our opening sequence similar to the opening sequence of Seven, however we have included an interesting twist. In seven, we immediatley see a deranged psychotic character planning and plotting his evil schemes using the 'seven' deadly sins to kill his victims.
>Close-ups and variations of close-ups in order to show emotion like anger or tension to make audience feel uncomfortable.
>Hand-held shots so the camera is shaking- this can represent the main character's unstability especially if they are a antagonist.
>Low-angle shots to make the anatgonist seem threatning and dangerous, this can make the audience feel small.
The follwing editing techniques may also be used in psychological thrillers;
>Quick cuts/short takes to make a scene quick, fast paced and tensed in order to create panic and usually makes an audience confused as it could show a lot of moments happening quickly one after the other, in the opening sequence of Seven many short takes are used as we do not see one object/prop for more than 5 seconds.
>Jump cuts to make the antagonist seem disorientated and emotionally/mentally unstable.
>Split-screen shows two or more events occuring at the same time makes the audience feel and see there is more than one action taking place at the same time.
>The font in Seven used for the opening credits is quite sharp and creepy-looking, this symbolizes the antagonist, his personality and whole character, telling the audience how deranged he is.
>Low key lighting could be used to create a dark sinister atmosphere and represent the surroundings of the antagonist, it creates shadows which we associate with fear and danger.
>Black and white/greyscale creates a dimly lit area signifying the enviroment of he antagonist and makes audience feel uncomfortable. It also represents the anatgonist's darkness as we associate dark colours such as black/grey with fear, depression, dullness, death and other negative feelings.
The following sounds maybe used in a psychological thriller:
>Contrapuntal sound which is sound/music which seems strange in comparison to the scene we are watching, i.e a sunny, bright day might be on screen but we can hear tense, scary music. This can repesent the antagonist looking normal but really they are criminal masterminds- we have decided to use this type of music/sound to represent the antagonist's two sides: his 'normal' state and dark, deranged, psychotic state. We will use two types of music, classical and sharp, tense music/sound to symbolize the two sides of our character (antagonist).
>Pitch- in a psychological thriller, this can be either low or high- both will set the atmosphere quite high tensed. For a high pitched sound, an ear screeching sound maybe used to make the audience uncomfortable as it will make them want to cover their ears as it can sound quite horrible.
>Rhythm- in a psychological thriller, the music/sound would start slow then as it progresses it will become more fast paced to build tension and create a panic-like atmosphere. It makes a scene more interesting and keeps the audience wanting more. We have decided we will use this technique in our opening sequence to build that tension and mystery for the audience leaving them thinking.
As our genre is a psychological thriller which include serial killers - a similiar good example of this genre of film is the movie Seven. We have decided to do our opening sequence similar to the opening sequence of Seven, however we have included an interesting twist. In seven, we immediatley see a deranged psychotic character planning and plotting his evil schemes using the 'seven' deadly sins to kill his victims.
Here, we see the opening of a book which we later see is his 'scrapbook' where he sticks and writes his evil plans. We have decided to adapt this idea in our opening sequence to represent our character.
We have decided to kind of represent a similar character in our opening sequence, however our character will have two sides to them. He will be normally dressed like an average working man in a suit, however as our opening sequence progresses, the audience will see his 'dark' side where he will be dressed in dirty, ripped clothing with blood/mud stains.
In addition, our location for our video will be either in an apartment or a hotel room with a view over looking Stratford (Olympic Park) to establish the location, instead of a run-down looking room, it will look 'normal' meaning it will be normally lit with a table and when we come to editing we will include grey-scale to it to make it sinister-looking in order to sympbolize the serial killer's two sides.
In addition, our location for our video will be either in an apartment or a hotel room with a view over looking Stratford (Olympic Park) to establish the location, instead of a run-down looking room, it will look 'normal' meaning it will be normally lit with a table and when we come to editing we will include grey-scale to it to make it sinister-looking in order to sympbolize the serial killer's two sides.
Here, is a picture of a dead person used in the opening sequence of Seven, however, in our opening sequence we are going to take a picture of a 'happy' looking girl and then take another picture seperatley of the girl blindfolded and crying before filming the video. When we add this in the video, she will look like a victim of the serial killer.
